LEE’S IRT

“The World’s Safest Railroad,” an exhibit at the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal, explores how public relations pioneer Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934) promoted New York’s subway system between 1916 and 1932, when the company went into receivership.

The show traces how Lee gained public support for New York’s first subway, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (known as “IRT”) in its second decade of operation, when facing competition from the rival Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The exhibition draws on materials in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton University and is scheduled to run through October 24.

A Georgia-born Princeton graduate and one-time New York Times reporter, Lee opened a public relations firm called Parker & Lee. Attracting major industrial clients, he communicated directly with subway passengers with posters and pamphlets. Lee often polled customer opinion and had his firm thank each respondent by letter.

One campaign explained that when it’s hot on the subway, there’s a reason – it’s not that the subway “doesn’t care.” Another endeavored to acquaint passengers with turnstiles, where “each gate is an entrance and exit.” The poster series “The Subway Sun” and “The Elevated Express” covered issues such as safety, proper etiquette, and public service announcements.

Those attending the exhibition’s opening included author Lawrence Stelter (“By the El: Third Avenue and Its El at Mid-Century”); transportation consultant George Haikalis; Bronx County Historical Society archivist and editor Peter Derrick; Trudy Mason of the New York State Democratic Committee; and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority director of special projects, Roxanne Robertson. New York Transit Museum senior curator Charles Sachs subsequently gave a talk on Ivy Lee at the museum’s main location in Brooklyn, at which pubic relations icon Chester Burger was present.

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TRANSIT TALK

Transit photographer Eric Oszustowicz will present a slide show at the Great Hall of Cooper Union at 7 p.m. on October 29 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the New York subway system. The

evening, featuring subway passenger car equipment, will be a special meeting of the New York Division of the Electric Railroaders’ Association.

The lecture will discuss subway car interiors starting with R143s (the newest cars) and continuing with a photographic progression to the oldest steel cars. Fasten your seatbelts! The evening is slated to run as long as four hours.

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SCARBOROUGH ROOM

Friends and colleagues came to the Garden Room at Michael’s on W. 55th Street to honor Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country,” on the publication of his book “Rome Wasn’t Burnt In A Day: The Real Deal on How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Other Washington Barbarians Are Bankrupting America” (Harper-Collins).

Seen were MSNBC host Deborah Norville, MSNBC President Rick Kaplan, NBC News President Neal Shapiro, NBC Universal Television stations President Jay Ireland, actor Ron Silver, “Scarborough Country” executive producer Lia Macko; HarperCollins President Jane Friedman; William Morris agent James Griffin; a Republican representative from Oregon, Derrick Kitts; and MSNBC’s vice president of Prime Time programming, Phil Griffin.

Enjoying the soiree were Mr. Scarborough’s wife, Susan, and their baby daughter, Katherine.

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KNICK-KNACKS

The Urban Transit Club, which focuses on all forms of urban transit from subways, to buses, to trolleys, and trolley buses, is hosting its next monthly meeting on September 11, at the Masonic Hall at 71 W. 23 St. Bill Myers will talk about the Bay Ridge Branch and will show scenes of night photography. $5 for non-members. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show begins at 7:15.